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Mortuary Beliefs and Practices of the Northern and Southwestern Athapaskans

by Lindsay McArthur

For a culture to survive, it must be dynamic. Cultures, and consequently aspects of culture, are inter-related and inter-dependent. Therefore, when one aspect of culture is changed, others must be altered to compensate. When Athapaskan groups migrated from the Subarctic to the Southwest, they took their culture with them, only to have it change in response to the radically different environments they encountered along the way. Both the new physical and social environment aided in the adaptation and evolution of Athapaskan mortuary customs and beliefs. For the purposes of this paper, the Navajo will be chosen as representative of the Southwestern Athapaskans, and the Kutchin will provide the examples for the Northern groups.

Athapaskan groups originated in the Subarctic, likely somewhere in what is now Southern Alaska. The earliest divergence of these groups likely occurred approximately 2000 years ago, and the arrival of the Southwestern Athapaskans to their present home is believed to have been not much more than 500 years ago. The migrations of these groups is traced through their common linguistic base, and if they have a common origin language, then it is likely that they also have a common cultural base (Perry 1983: 715). Because the Northern and Southwestern Athapaskan groups have been separated for a relatively short period of time, any differences in their mourning practices and corresponding belief systems must have been brought about rapidly, due to new physical or social environments. Aspects of ideology, unlike types of social organization and subsistence strategies, are not limited to a few variables and are therefore more likely to be retained throughout a wide range of circumstances (Perry 1983: 719).

The environment of the Western Subarctic is harsh, with long and frigid winters, therefore the majority of subsistence activities involved hunting, trapping, and to a lesser extent, fishing and the gathering of wild plant resources. The Dene, as Subarctic Athapaskan groups refer to themselves, practiced a non-specialized subsistence pattern in association with mountains -- even into the Southwest -- where there are numerous ecological niches at different altitudes which increase the variety of available resources over a smaller horizontal (Perry 1983: 721). Due to this subsistence pattern, large and permanently settled groups would have been impossible, therefore the Dene led a highly mobile and flexible existence. Due to these necessary lifeways and subsistence patterns, religion was functional in that individual ritual was more important than community rites. Consequently, there was considerable ideological diversity and leeway in the development of attitudes and ideas about the supernatural world (Vanstone 1974: 59-60).

Like the Western Subarctic, the Southwestern physical environment is harsh with low levels of precipitation. It is an arid environment which does not lend itself easily to agriculture without the use of irrigation techniques. The Pueblan peoples of the area maintained the level of social complexity which allowed them to exist as full-time horticulturists. This type of subsistence pattern could support a concentrated sedentary population, with the potential for ritual complexity.

The Navajo were greatly influenced in many ways by their neighbors in the Southwest, the Pueblan peoples. In AD 1680, there was a successful Pueblan revolt against the Spanish, but a few years later, the Spanish returned and many Pueblan refugees were absorbed into Southwestern Athapaskan groups to avoid extinction by the conquering Spanish. With this closer contact, the lifeways and ideological thought of the Navajo was enriched and transformed. By 1800, the Navajo, like the Pueblan peoples, were dependent on agriculture for their subsistence activities. Some scholars interpret the development of the Navajo religion at this time as an attempt to incorporate Pueblan communal values with the individualistic Athapaskan hunter-gatherer world view (Levy 1998: 82).

Although the physical aspects of mortuary practices are closely connected to ideological beliefs and emotional responses, they are likely to be more rapidly altered than are tightly held religious thought and emotive reactions. Among all Athapaskan groups, there is a pervasive cultural standard of fear and avoidance of the dead. Northern Athapaskan groups had established modes of preparing an individual for death and burial, with mortuary practices that varied between the different groups. Immediately following death, the corpse was dressed in clothes which had been made especially for the occasion, or if death was anticipated, the dying individual would be dressed in advance. Physical adornment also went beyond clothing and jewelry, for with the Chandalar Kutchin, if the deceased was a man, his face would be painted in red and black using the designs which he had favored in life (McKennan 1965: 59). Structures, too, were affected by death. If the dwelling in which an individual had died was not destroyed or abandoned, the corpse was removed through the smoke hole of the house so the evil spirit which caused the death would not be able to find its way back (Vanstone 1974: 84).

The traditional Navajo belief -- which is similar to that of the Subarctic Dene -- is that the dead are objects of horror and danger which must be quickly disposed of with elaborate precautions (Ward 1980: 1). Therefore, there were established standards of how a body was to be prepared for death and burial. When it became apparent that death was imminent, the family of the dying individual could react in various ways -- if the dying person was not abandoned, as they often were in the Subarctic, then they were washed, their hair fixed, and they were nicely dressed, all of which was done in order to remove the necessity of handling the corpse for the same purposes later. The dying individual would then be left in the hogan to await death, or they would be transported to an unused or specially built structure for dying and burial (Ward 1980: 31). In this, the Southwestern Athapaskans adapted well to the Pueblan practice of disposing of their dead in disused rooms within a pueblan complex, for the action was basically the same and only the dwelling type was different. After burial, the body decomposed, recycling the component molecules, and the individuals memory and descendants lived on and allowed for immortality (Farella 1984: 18).

After a death had occurred, taboos were obeyed by all Athapaskan groups, particularly if an individual had been involved in the preparation of the body for burial. Among Western Subarctic Athapaskan groups, the Chandalar Kutchin in particular, work involved in a burial was performed by members of a clan other than that of the deceased. These assistants were rewarded with gifts from the family as compensation for the taboos which they had to live with for several weeks following the interment. For approximately ten days after a death, the funereal assistants must camp apart from the rest of the group, not eat fresh meat, not touch food with his hands, drink only through a bird-bone tube, and wear mittens while eating (McKennan 1965: 85), also, sexual prohibitions extended for several weeks after other taboos had ceased.

The Navajo related beliefs that "no one may enter or leave a hogan other than by the doorway" and that "no one may pass anything out of the hogan except through the door because only the dead are taken out through the walls" (Ward 1980: 34) is the starting point from which taboos concerned with dealing with the dead stem. Behavior reflecting this concept among the Dene was seen in how they prepared the corpse for burial. There is prescribed behavior surrounding all aspects of mortuary activity, for example there is a taboo against using the belongings of the dead, which will be discussed later. As well, there are taboos against approaching the burial, removal of grave coverings, undoing the shroud, and touching the corpse, all of which will result in a violent death for the violator (Ward 1980: 24). There could also be a medical reason for this type of non-disturbance taboo which can only be determined by modern medical knowledge -- perhaps certain air-borne diseases live on for a period of time after the death of the host, and can still infect other living creatures. Many other human mortuary practices may have both a practical and physical, as well as an ideological, goal of minimizing these types of effects.

Concepts about the soul and the fear of ghosts are traits common to Subarctic and Southwestern Athapaskan groups. The most pervasive belief is in a multi-component spirit, with one aspect lingering near the body even after death -- the good essence departs for the next world, while the evil one remains. They also believed that the evil spirit was liable to return to harm the living, therefore the name of the deceased was avoided, for saying the name was equivalent to summoning the spirit (Perry 1983: 726). The Northern Athapaskan groups believed that the evil aspect of the soul was particularly dangerous to close relatives, and that the dead come back to life at midnight on the fourth day after their death (Rooth 1971: 140). The magical number four -- the number of cardinal directions -- is carried on in the Southwestern Athapaskan soul concept. The Dene, as with most hunter-gatherer groups, seem to have had a fairly hazy notion about the human soul, and little fear of spirits unless they were ghosts lingering around the camp (Vanstone 1974: 63).

Much more complex was the Navajo belief in a two component soul -- one associated with breath or wind and the other with a shadow-like entity which remained associated with the corpse for a time and represented a danger to the survivors. At death the soul left the body, but it lingered nearby for four days before proceeding to the underworld. During this time it is referred to as a ghost and is considered dangerous because it may seek to avenge insults received in life and it may take the souls of the living with it when it goes (Levy 1998: 112).

The Athapaskan avoidance of the dead stems from a fear of ghosts, which are beyond the control of the living (Kluckhohn and Leighton 1946: 126). The ghost was believed to be the malignant part of the deceased persons soul which has the ability to return to avenge wrongs done to it during life, for example if they were not buried properly, if burial items were left out, if not enough animals were killed, or if the grave site was disturbed the ghost would return to its burial place or former dwelling. Ghosts were thought to appear after dark, or immediately preceding the death of a family member, as itself, or in the guise of an animal or natural phenomenon. They appeared dark in color and had the ability to change shape and size, and to make noises, whistling being the most common. Ghosts were seen as omens of disaster unless the proper ceremonial can be done in time to avert it (Kluckhohn and Leighton 1946: 126-7). Four days after the disposal of the corpse, the ghost was no longer considered a serious and immediate threat, though it still had the ability to come back and haunt the living, unless the individual had died in old age or was stillborn, for these groups of people did not leave ghosts behind. Diyinii is the Navajo word for natural phenomena and for being part of something larger. By learning the stories of their people and ensuring the continuation of that knowledge, the boundary between humans and diyinii becomes nearly non-existent, and death is the final dissolution of this boundary. Therefore, at death, one who had this wisdom would not leave a ghost and could be referred to by name as they had been during life (Farella 1984: 29).

The Navajo as a group have disagreements as to what becomes of a human soul after death. One point of view holds that some elements of identity are maintained, and the other point of view believes that personality is "washed clean" of the soul, which then returns to an undifferentiated pool. In this second hypothesis, the state of the soul mirrors the state of the body -- it aids the development of new life (Farella 1984: 127-31).

Concepts of the afterlife and of reincarnation vary greatly between Subarctic and Southwestern Athapaskan groups. As they did with the concept of souls, most hunter-gatherer groups had relatively vague thoughts about the afterlife (Vanstone 1974: 63). However, their perceptions did include the belief that the soul of the deceased was taken to the realm of the dead in a stone canoe; if an individual had been a bad person in life, the canoe would sink and they would be stranded in water up to their neck, never to reach the soul's final resting place (Birket-Smith 1930: 79). Dene groups also believed that reincarnation was possible -- in animal form, as a different gender, or into a different lineage. Reincarnation was believed to have occurred especially if a person dies young, and it is shared characteristics and memories of the deceased which help to identify the reincarnated soul.

The Navajo, as a group, have two conflicting beliefs -- that there is an afterlife in which individuals keep their personal identity and that there is a deity of the underworld, which contrasts with the view that there is no afterlife and that an individual's only immortality is through his descendants. The second view believes that the soul is a part of the original life-force and the creative power of the cosmos (Levy 1998: 171). The Navajo did not believe in an immortal soul dwelling in paradise in the same sense as in Christian thought, but in an underworld which was uninviting and full of shadows. This place is considered to be like Earth, to the North, and below the Earth's surface. It is approached by a trail down a hill or a cliff with a sand pile at the bottom. Deceased kin of the newly dead appear to him as they last did in life, and lead him to the underworld on a four day journey (Kluckhohn and Leighton 1946: 126). To the Navajo, the lower worlds are places of disorder, danger, and chaos, inhabited by the souls of the dead (Gill 1979: 4). The voyage to the "other place" for both Northern and Southwestern Athapaskan groups does not seem to be a particularly welcome trip, reflecting their inherent distaste for, and avoidance of, death and everything associated with it. Although both groups have a ideological picture of the approach to the underworld, their everyday living environments are reflected in their images of the afterworld, clearly displaying the adaptability and flexibility of Athapaskan groups.

Second in importance only to the avoidance of malevolent spirits, disposal of the dead was a primary subject of concern. Athapaskan groups buried their dead as quickly as possible. If an individual died within a home, then the body was removed from the dwelling through an opening, other than the door, to ensure that the living would not have to follow the path of the dead, and to ensure that the evil spirit which caused the death would not be able to find its way back. Possessions belonging to the dead were disposed of by redistribution, burial, or destruction, and often the dwelling where the death had occurred was destroyed, and the site abandoned.

Northern Athapaskans seem to have had fewer specific methods of disposal of a human corpse than did their Southwestern counterparts. Disposal was done by one of four methods: cremation, inhumation, platform burial, or abandonment. Cremation was the oldest and most widespread method, though it all but disappeared after the arrival of Europeans and their Christian influence. No one witnessed the burning, but later the remains were raked together and buried on the spot. In the pre-contact period, inhumation was dependent on wealth. Among the Chandalar Kutchin specifically, the body was bound in a flexed position and placed in the grave in a sitting position facing the rising sun. When possible, the grave was dug to a depth of approximately one and a half meters and lined with poles. If this depth was not possible, the grave would be shallower and the body would be covered with a mound of stones. Grave goods would often be placed with the body, and a pole carved with an animal figure would be erected over the grave site. Platform burials were only for persons of distinction. With the advent of the steel axe came interment on an elevated cache, for which a large log was split and hollowed out to form a rough coffin (McKennan 1965: 60). Finally, abandonment was done if the individual was killed in war, or if the survivors were too weak to dispose of the body any other way (Vanstone 1974: 85). Individuals were dragged out of dwelling places before they died and were left to expire beneath the trees in both summer and winter, for if an individual died within a home, it was no longer considered suitable for the living (Rooth 1971: 39).

For the Navajo of the Southwest, the hogan dwelling occupied a central place in both the world of the living and in the sacred world. If a death occurred within a dwelling, the body would either be removed for burial elsewhere through a hole which was broken through the wall on the North side, the direction of evil (Kluckhohn and Leighton 1946: 46), or remain in the hogan, which would become a tomb where the body was concealed and protected from the elements. Even if the body was removed from the hogan for disposal elsewhere, the building still belonged to the dead and could no longer be used by living humans, and it was thusly marked as a warning to the living and avoided. The entry door to the East was sealed or blocked with upright logs, and the structure itself was often partially dismantled or otherwise destroyed (Ward 1980: 34). The use of the word burial in terms of the Navajo disposal of the dead is inappropriate, because before the influence of Europeans, they did not seem to have "believe[d] in digging holes in Mother Earth" for burial purposes (Ward 1980: 10), though this practice was fairly common among the Pueblan peoples. The Navajo had several different methods of disposing of the dead, and these methods have been divided by Albert E. Ward into “intra-mural” and “extra-mural” remains, that is outside versus inside a human modified land form or structure. These sub-sections are further divided into a total of 41 extremely specific burial types, some of which were, as among the Pueblan peoples, below-ground disposals. It can be inferred, then, that these below-ground Navajo graves were created after a significant period of contact with Pueblan peoples. It seems likely, too, that below-ground burials in the Subarctic were dependent on wealth, and were therefore not common, simply because it was so labour intensive to dig deeply into the permafrost.

What happened to the belongings of the deceased was another area of concern for Athapaskan groups. Generally among the Dene, the possessions of the dead would be burned or abandoned, and among the Chandalar Kutchin, property which was not buried was divided among the near relatives (McKennan 1965: 60). For both the Southwestern and Subarctic Athapaskan groups, it seems that people did not use things which belonged to the dead (Ward 1980: 33). That is to say that the items which had been selected for burial or destruction would not be used by others.

Among the Navajo, items to be buried with the body were selected while the owner was still alive. The owner specified who would receive the objects which were not to be included in the grave. If items were not parceled out before death, there was a meeting of relatives in which the older and closer relations led the discussion. It was important to be on hand for this event, even if an individual belonged to the immediate family of the deceased. There was an informal understanding, however, that ceremonial equipment was to go to the owner's sons or sororal nephews who knew the appropriate rites, or failing this, to the nearest relative or clan member with the same knowledge (Kluckhohn and Leighton 1946: 61). A comparison of what Subarctic and Southwestern Athapaskan groups did with the belongings of the deceased reflects the change in settlement and subsistence patterns. Northern groups are highly mobile, therefore it is illogical to carry unnecessary goods with them on their seasonal rounds. But, as the Southwestern groups adopted Pueblan sedentary horticultural ways, it was easier to have material continuity from generation to generation, particularly in a more complex and fixed ritual context.

There are many other topics which are related to mortuary beliefs and practices, such as perceptions of the ill, the elderly, and witchcraft, as well as various ceremonials and mythological explanations. All of these subjects, along with many more, are all important to the overall understanding of Northern and Southwestern Athapaskan mortuary doctrines and customs, but they unfortunately fall outside the scope of this paper.

The flexibility and adaptability of Athapaskan groups is clearly displayed in their mortuary customs and associated belief systems. Subarctic groups, as hunter-gatherer nomadic peoples, had a functional and fluid ideology which was ideal for their subsistence patterns, physical environment, and lifeways in general. As portions of this original proto-Athapaskan group migrated to the Southwest and came into contact with sedentary horticultural peoples, they maintained the older belief system, but still developed it into a more complex entity. However, the associated mortuary customs adapted themselves more rapidly to suit their new physical, social, and cultural environment.

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